Monday, January 1, 2018

2018 Goals

Happy 2018!

It is hard to believe that 2018 has arrived. As we start the new year, I thought that this would be a good time to share a few of my plans and goals for the new year.

The Blog

This blog is now 4 years old. There have been quite a few changes during those years which has really helped me learn what works for me and what doesn't work as well. I am pretty happy with the blog at this point but there is always room for improvement.

At one point, I participated in a lot of blog tours. I stopped doing very many of them a couple of years ago. I still do a few but not as many. There were a few times in 2017 that I felt stressed over blog tours. I don't like having to post things on someone else's schedule and the deadlines to get a book read takes away from some of the enjoyment of reading. I don't want to stop blog tours completely but I plan to be very selective with what I sign up for in the future. Of course, I will honor any obligations that I already have.

I do also hope to do a little better with visiting other blogs and commenting as much as I can. I do try but this can be a struggle so I do need to keep working on it.

Books

I have got to get control of my pile of ARCs. I did read some old review books in 2017 but it wasn't nearly enough. I have a big pile of books to get through. I have thought about trying to go a year without adding any books but who am I kidding? That would be just setting myself up for failure. I am going to try to be extremely selective with requesting new books. I do have some new auto-approvals which is actually very helpful since I don't download books from those publishers until I am ready to read them.

Current NetGalley Stats

Feedback Ratio: 76%

467 Approved | 356 Feedback Sent

Goal by the end of 2018

Feedback Ratio of 86%

Books that I can't wait to read in 2018!

Challenges

I am only going to participate in two challenges this year. I like the idea of challenges but I know that keeping track of things would just cause me stress.

Goodreads Challenge

I am setting my goal at 100 again this year. I should be able to surpass this goal by quite a bit but with a lower goal, I can tackle some longer books without feeling the stress from Goodreads telling me that I am behind schedule. ← I hate that!

2018 Blogger Shame Challenge

As I mentioned, I have a big pile of books to catch up with so this is a challenge that is almost meant for me.

40 comments:

These are great goals, Carole. I really need to work on catching up with my ARCs too. Like for you, saying no all together probably isn't realistic for me. Good luck with your challenges! I am still not sure what I will set my Goodreads goal to. Be serious or set it extremely low like I have in the past just because. I hate feeling like I have to read toward a numeric goal.

I wish you the best with your goals this year, Carole! Have a Happy New Year!

I know how many times I threaten myself with a book ban but it just isn't a logical idea is it! I've set my 200 goal and I'd rather get through 300 but don't want to put the pressure on myself. I intend to make more time for reading and blog visits this year. Setting the goals is the fun bit...keeping them is the challenge!

Good luck with you reading goals. I van relate with you on blog tours. I was also feeling pressured by the deadlines and being told that i cant post a review unless it is 4 stars and over. So I too have become selective about Tue one is sign up for. I plan to,limit myself to only two ore one per month.

Yes, I've found that reading toward particular dates can be chafing for me, too. We do blog tours, but half the time I just do an interview or guest post rather than a book review for the same reason you stated.

I love your goal for your older review books. I had to be ruthless with myself about that, too, and I'm feeling much better going into this year. Though, that said, I still need to be just a little ruthless or I'll slip and get behind on my old review stack again. :)

Good goals!! I try not to do many or any blog tours anymore. I agree dates to read and post by stress me out. I need to get caught up on old ARCs too. I hope not to get too many new ones but it is so hard to say no!. Hope you achieve all of these!! Good luck!

I'm also being selective on the books that I read and blog tours. I LOL'd when you mentioned Goodreads. I totally understand the stress of that stupid thing telling me that I'm so and so books behind schedule. XD. I also set my goal to 100. ~Aleen

It is so hard not to fall into ARCs and the hype surrounding books. Like you, I would like to be much more selective with the books I am choosing to request/read in 2018. And also like you, I limited the amount of blog tours I signed up for. The pressure is unbelievable, especially if you have a review scheduled and end up not liking the book.

Loving your to read list for 2018. I am sitting at 99% on NetGalley. I do really well with keeping my ARCs on target and posting by release, it is my own purchases that suffer..lol I am however very selective about books I select for review.

Looks like you've got some great goals! I've slowed way down on blog tours in 2017 and was really glad I did. I still do ones for books I really want to read but am down to maybe one a month. Good luck with your NetGalley ratio and Blogger shame! I haven't signed up for Blogger Shame but I really should! Happy New Year!

Those sound like great goals, Carole! I think I'm going to reduce the number of blog tours I do this year as well - maybe try to space them out a bit. I love taking part in them but sometimes too many at one time gets super stressful. I also hate when Goodreads tells me I'm behind schedule. I set my goal to one I know I'll make eventfully, but I know Goodreads will tell me at least 20 times that I'm behind schedule so I'm kind of regretting it now lol Good luck with your goals!

I think we have a lot of the same goals. I'm already failing at being better at getting back to blog commenting and so on but I am trying to catch up on work on it. Oh, and being selective with review copies and reading more of the ones on my TBR pile! We can do this :D Can't wait to see more from you in 2018.